Please wait...
My struggle with the end of 32-bit support is not that it's happening, but
rather to decide when to become part of it. As you may have seen in the CitaNews
room, I announced the deprecation of 32-bit support on our software. When
to actually pull the plug is another matter. I was thinking end of 2025,
but another good date would be in mid 2026, coterminous with the end of support
for Bookworm.
40 years. That's a hell of a run.
40 years. That's a hell of a run.
2025-08-08 02:46 from IGnatius T Foobar
Subject: Re: Mate
I hope that's not your primary machine and you have something
better.
Primary machine packs an Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3470 CPU and 8 GB of RAM total in two sticks. And uses Intel HD Graphics 2500.
My most powerful machine which is not a server is my Steam Deck.
2025-08-08 11:25 from Nurb432
Subject: Re: Mate
If it is, and there is a way not to reveal himself ( which i
dont see how ), we should all pitch in for a decent NUC or
something.
That was kind of touching. Thanks a lot.
I don't feel myself constrained by hardware limitations. The only thing I really need is a better ISP at home, but that has no fix other than moving sinbce nobody will bring proper Internet to my house. If I needed a better computer I would just save a bit and then buy something better.
As they say, "The reason why I have money is because I don't waste it"
Something I am having actual trouble with is my retrogame orgy gamepad. I have a cheapo one worth 5 bucks. It is very bad - buttons suck, triggers get stuck. It works fine for me but my friends keep bugging me to get a good one. The problem is good gamepads that are not Microsoft owned starts at 45 bucks. Actually, one of my friends tried to help bringing some gamepad of his, but thing is it is not compatible with the Steam Deck out of the box hahahahaha
i do agree at some point you have to pull the plug. Even in "developing countries" I would think most 32bit x86 is gone at this point, so it sort of makes sense, as long as they keep the old ISOs out there for those few edge-cases. Just always find it troublesome to obsolete what is working.. I know this isn't the case but it always feels like 'planned obsolescence'.
But, the ARM32bit, there are still a LOT of those out there, and its not always trivial to swap IoT devices.. Are they running Debian? ( or a derivative ) probably not, but still feels premature. Tho i guess it may take a few years before Trixie is retired from updates.
Mon Aug 11 2025 00:12:38 UTC from IGnatius T FoobarMy struggle with the end of 32-bit support is not that it's happening, but rather to decide when to become part of it. As you may have seen in the CitaNews room, I announced the deprecation of 32-bit support on our software. When to actually pull the plug is another matter. I was thinking end of 2025, but another good date would be in mid 2026, coterminous with the end of support for Bookworm.
40 years. That's a hell of a run.
2025-08-11 12:06 from Nurb432
i do agree at some point you have to pull the plug. Even in
"developing countries" I would think most 32bit x86 is gone at
this point, so it sort of makes sense, as long as they keep the
old ISOs out there for those few edge-cases. Just always find it
troublesome to obsolete what is working.. I know this isn't the
case but it always feels like 'planned obsolescence'.
I happen to be one of those suckers who has a use for 32 bit software.
The problem with support for 32 bit is that it has been degrading slowly by factors such as software generally sucking more and more each passing day,
For example, Firefox nowadays takes so much memory that you cannot compile it on a 32 bit system (because you will hit RAM limits) unless you use PAE tricks. If your Linux or BSD distribution build their repositories by compiling natively then Firefox is unlikely to be built at all for it under x86. And nobody really cares to fix those things.
But, the ARM32bit, there are still a LOT of those out there, and
I don't think support for 32-bit ARM is ending quite yet. Just 32-bit x86.
For me it's about software packaging and figuring out who's still using what.
For some reason I didn't know that Docker never ran on 32-bit at all, so that makes things a little easier. I also want to start playing with LMDB, which can run on 32-bit, but you can't have a database bigger than addressable memory. So that's kind of a non starter.
I'm probably making it a bigger problem than it needs to be. It's possible that the OS distributors are doing the right thing by saying "we get it, there's always someone out there who's going to have a problem, but at some point you have to do the cutoff."
Right, 'Trixie is the last version' from what i was reading. So its not here, but coming...
Mon Aug 11 2025 13:26:11 UTC from IGnatius T FoobarBut, the ARM32bit, there are still a LOT of those out there, and
I don't think support for 32-bit ARM is ending quite yet. Just 32-bit x86.
For example, Firefox nowadays takes so much memory that you cannot
compile it on a 32 bit system (because you will hit RAM limits) unless
you use PAE tricks. If your Linux or BSD distribution build their
repositories by compiling natively then Firefox is unlikely to be built
at all for it under x86. And nobody really cares to fix those things.
Maybe, but Firefox has all kinds of problems. They're years behind the state of the art, both in terms of current web functionality and sandboxing.
Harumph. Maybe if Mozilla spent more of their allowance on software development
they'd be in a better position.
2025-08-20 00:32 from IGnatius T Foobar
Harumph. Maybe if Mozilla spent more of their allowance on software
development they'd be in a better position.
Hard to tell. End users, the one who actually use the thing, don't care if the sandboxing model is good or bad. It is only a marketing point for a small set of the population. Functionally speaking browsers these days are comodities.
Frankly, the reason why Google's browsers have invaded everything is because they have pushed it from their own products. You visited your gmail account, google told you to "upgrade" to Chrome. You buy a non iOS smartphone, it comes with Chrome. You get the idea.
Unless you are using edge, then they tell flat out not to install chrome. ( i have seen that myself. was thinking WTF MS, go to hell ) Aside from 'bite the hand that feeds you' ( chromium engine ) its uncool ..
Wed Aug 20 2025 07:26:49 UTC from darknetuser2025-08-20 00:32 from IGnatius T Foobar
Harumph. Maybe if Mozilla spent more of their allowance on software
development they'd be in a better position.
Hard to tell. End users, the one who actually use the thing, don't care if the sandboxing model is good or bad. It is only a marketing point for a small set of the population. Functionally speaking browsers these days are comodities.
Frankly, the reason why Google's browsers have invaded everything is because they have pushed it from their own products. You visited your gmail account, google told you to "upgrade" to Chrome. You buy a non iOS smartphone, it comes with Chrome. You get the idea.
Yeah I've seen that's it's pretty nasty. They'll even insert messages into
other people's web pages telling you to use Edge instead of Chrome. It's
the same browser, the only difference is what corporate master it serves.
Cat's out of the bag though, they can't take it private now, and even if they forked back into a proprietary version, someone would move forward with the free version -- they wouldn't have to start from scratch. I've seen that movie a bunch of times before and the world never ended as some feared. The free world is here to stay.
Cat's out of the bag though, they can't take it private now, and even if they forked back into a proprietary version, someone would move forward with the free version -- they wouldn't have to start from scratch. I've seen that movie a bunch of times before and the world never ended as some feared. The free world is here to stay.